
In a nice house, in a quiet suburban neighborhood, on the day of their garage sale, Eve’s husband Chuck walks out on her. He leaves her alone with their daughter, Noni, age nine, and Eve’s son Marcus, age seventeen. This would be shocking enough for the average woman, but for Eve, it is beyond shocking, as her first husband, her beloved Ivan, died in a car accident thirteen years earlier. Not only has one man abandoned her with a young child, now two men in a row have done just that. But life goes on, of course, and with Eve’s cast of friends and family members around her to shield her from her pain and help her with the kids, she is really never alone.
That summary was kind of paltry, I’ll admit. The reason for that is that I don’t have much to say about Home Repair, not much that would really help make you want to read the book. It’s a sweet story, with decent characters, it just wasn’t overall my cup of tea.
I think the main issue I had with the novel is that it was sort of bland. I liked Eve, I even wanted good things to happen to her, but her personality just sort of was… blah. It wasn’t anything I could grab onto, she was not a character I could fall in love with. In fact, my favorite character was probably her mother, Charlotte, but even Charlotte was almost like a caricature of what a funny older woman is like rather than an actual older woman. I liked the kids, especially Noni, but they weren’t all that interesting either, to be honest. Everyone was sort of nice and sweet and kind, regular people, but they weren’t anything special, anything exciting. They weren’t at all complex.
Also, I was over halfway through the book when I had the sudden realization that I didn’t much care what direction it would take. That’s horrible, right? I feel bad admitting that. But it was really how I felt at that point, and although I finished the novel, I could have easily gone either way. It just didn’t leave too profound an impact on me.
Still, if you enjoy sweet stories about families, along the lines of “women’s fiction”, you may really enjoy Home Repair. It was not a bad story, by any means, it just did not resonate with me personally. For another take on the novel, check out Kristen’s review or The Kool Aid Mom’s review – they both really liked it!
I kind of agree with you. This book didn’t resonate with me all that much. I thought I’d like it because I love women’s fiction, but I just didn’t connect.
Glad I’m not the only one!
I’ll definitely give Home Repair a try, although the title makes me think of jobs around the house, which doesn’t exactly inspire!
LOL it does have a weird title. 😉
I wasn’t crazy about this book either, so I know exactly how you felt.
Thanks, Kathy! It seems that I’m not in the minority, which makes me feel better.
I haven’t read this book but I agree it’s hard to love a book that you can’t connect with personally in some way.
Definitely.
I love the cover though 🙂
Me too, lol!
I love the cover so I bought the book (still unread). Yours is the third review where the reader either disliked the book of DNF it….too bad.
Well, I hope you like it! I agree about the cover – it’s very pretty. The bright colors really stand out.
I like this style of story but bland makes me hesitate!!
Too bad about the book, because the cover is beyond cute. I just love rainboots.
Bland? Don’t care what happens? I’m definitely going to skip this one–I’ve got no time for bland.
Insightful article. I personally haven’t read the book, but I’ll be ordering to see how it is.
It’s hard for a book to recovr from a bland main character. I had been thinking about this one, but now I think I’ll skip it.
I will think about this one,thanks!
I adored this book, and found the main character anything but bland! Love, love, love it. So I’ll have to beg to differ with this reviewer. Great story, great writing, reminds me of Anne Tyler at her best.